TRIATHLON: Smallwood crowned English champion

It’s been another great weekend of racing for the members of Rugby Triathlon club, with wins up and down the country in triathlons, swimming and running races.

James Webb won his age group at Eton Dorney

Mike Smallwood travelled to Chester for the English Olympic distance championships. Mike put in a stunning performance completing the 1500m swim, 40km bike and 10km run in a time of 2hours 25min to be crowned English champion.

Stephanie Seeley travelled south to compete in the Eton Dorney Half Ironman, a tough event in which Steph exceeded her expectations and recorded a fine time of 6hours 37 mins for the 1900metre swim, 90km bike and half marathon.

Continuing the long distance theme was Rachael Rathbone, who raced the Cotswold middle distance event. Rachael, whose main aim of the year is the Outlaw Ironman, was using this event as a warm up had a superb race, showing all the training is paying off, recording a time of 5hours 38mins, for the 1900metre swim, 90km bike and half marathon.

Adam Walker visited Staffordshire for the first ever Ironman 70.3 half Ironman event, again consisting of a 1900m swim, 90km bike, half marathon. Adam mastered the conditions and the large field to record a fine 5hours 32mins, a great performance in his first half ironman event.

In shorter races, Simon Maddox raced the Barton Marina Sprint tri, the 500metre swim, 20km bike and 5km run is an eyeballs out effort and his reward was a time of 1hour 24min.

Neil Tooby raced the famous Blenheim triathlon, one of the most popular sprint tris there is. On packed roads Neil raced to a fine 1hour 42min. Guy Sanders thoroughly enjoyed the Blenheim experience and came home with a 1hour 24min performance for 61st in his age group and 240th overall. A great race with over 6,000 people racing.

James Webb competed in the Eton Dorney sprint event, and performed brillaintly to come in 24th and win his age group. A longer swim than most sprint tris played to his strengths and a fine 1hr 19mins was his reward.

Some members preferred to have a weekend away from tris and with an abundance of running races available Rugby Tri club showed they can compete against the best runners.

Greg Ashley recorded a fine win in the Stanwick Lakes 10km running race, finishing in a time of 39mins 21 seconds to win by nearly 30 seconds and record his first ever running race victory.

Lawrence Webb, concentrating on Ultra running, visited Wales for the Welsh 3000 vegan ultra, a tough 35mile race over rocky mountainous terrain and 15,000ft of climbing. A time of just under 11hours was his reward.

Shane Owen visited France for the Normandy Marathon. A mixture of sand, gravel and trail made for a tough course and Shane was pleased his 3hour 51mins, a 30min improvement on last year.

Kelly Dughmosh competed in the Eton Dorney 3.8km mass start swim race. Kelly had a superb race coming 3rd overall as well as being 1st Female, a superb performance.

Pam Batchelor celebrated her birthday by getting up at 3.30 to drive to Rutland water for the Dambuster Tri a 1500m, 40km, 10km triathlon. Pam had a great race finishing in 3hrs 12mins which gave her 15th in her age group and the rest of the day to eat birthday cake!